


With An Action Is a Consequence, A Butterfly And the Sound of Whales

by CrazyVideos50



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Almost everyone gets a mention at the least, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone makes bad choices, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Im also trying my best but meh, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Max is trying, Mental Health Issues, Nathan is a shithead, Sacrifice Chloe Ending, Sean prescott and mark jefferson arent welcomed at my table, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, The first chapter was actually two different fanfics, Tobanga Totem, What the hella is this, but not too slow, cringe worthy dialogue thats so iconic, mental recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-03-22 21:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13772787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyVideos50/pseuds/CrazyVideos50
Summary: Reset time, stop the storm, let Chloe die and save everyone.Max wonders if she truly made the right choice; the town is alive but no one seems to be happy. How does a lone pirate without a Captain get a grasp on oxygen if she's already so far down with a wanted whale in the big scary sea?





	1. Prologue

“Max?”

“It’s time…”

A sob was threating to escape Max’s throat as she squinted at the girl before her. Memories together from the past week from the junkyard to the diner to the party suddenly floating her mind all at once. Tears building up in the corners of her eyes, “oh Chloe,” she choked, taking a slow step near her as the rain and wind got stronger.

“I’m gonna miss you so much.” 

“I know Max.” Despite the heavy rain and storm, Max heard the clear fear and uncertainty in Chloe’s voice, “but we have to save everybody.” 

This shouldn’t be an option! Max wanted to protest, whenever calmly or screaming it out in that moment in hopes the one controlling the storm would stop.

Forgetting their situation, Max lips upon were upon Chloe’s, lightly pressed together; they held each other’s soaked bodies under the angry raves of the storm for one last time before the blue haired girl removed herself from Max, “and Max Caulfield,” she breathed, “don’t you forget about me.”

Shaking her head in fast motion, she stared longingly one last time at the blued haired woman in front of her, her breath catching in the back of her throat

“Never.”

Rewind time. Let Chloe die. Stop the storm. Save everybody. The end.

…Almost everybody, and for Max this will never end. 

Nor for him. 

* * *

 

What did he do?

What the  _ fuck _ did he do?!

Something heavy and metal slips out of his hand and hits the ground. He’s not paying attention to that other than the red liquid sipping onto the tile floor. Shit.

God, there’s  _ so much _ blood.

Everything around him is going in circles, he’s getting dizzy and his face is wet. His hands are making fists in his slicked back hair, messing it as he pastes around the bathroom in stress. He can’t breathe.

“N-no. No, no, no!” He stomped back over to her, his rough hands pushed on the limp girls’ shoulder, another push. She wouldn’t wake up. She was getting colder and paler by the second. 

“Please, god…”

Chloe Price…

“No!”

That’s fucking  _ Chloe Price _ .

“I-I didn’t mean to! You… Just… Kept pushing me!” 

No she didn’t you dick. Stop blaming others.

“I’m  _ sorry _ .” 

_ Are you really though? _

“I’m so, so, so sorry,”

I’m so fucking sorry  _ Rachel _ .

“My life is hell…” His voice cracked, his arms wrapped tightly around himself, nails digging in his jacket, “and I’m so busted.” 

His tears were silent as they slipped down his face. His heart beating so raptly he almost swore he was going to have a heart attack. The door banged open and he stopped paying attention to the world around him.

_ Murderer. _

_ Murderer. _

_ Murderer. _

_ Murderer. _

The room was dark, only a dim light over top of him keeping him from. Officer Barry looked at him from across the small table, his face stern but his eyes held guilt and sympathy. He sighed, catching Nathan’s attention from gazing at his cuffed wrists in front of him that were resting on the edge of the table, his red jacket laying stilly on his right. He felt completely naked without it. Powerless. Weak. Not a Prescott he should be. His father will be disappointed. 

But then again, when was there ever a moment when Sean wasn’t?  

“You’ve done a hell of a lot of trouble lately Nathan, but this…” Officer Barry paused, shifting himself to sit up straight in his chair, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. He didn’t know what to say, “why Nathan? Why would you do such a  _ fucked up _ thing like that? What went through your mind?” 

“I...” Nathan’s hands starting fumbling upon each other when his fingers found his cardigan sleeve, pulling and twisting at it. He gave out a shaky breath before looking back up at Barry, he’s eyes watering but not having the courage to let them flow, he began to tremble as he hunched,

“ _ I so sorry _ .” His voice was strained and quite, Officer Barry almost missed it if it wasn’t for being only across the table. 

“Sorry isn’t going to bring Miss Price back Nathan.” Barry sighed, a hand rubbing at his eyes “if I can help you in some way you have to tell me what happened.” 

Nathan blankly stared down at his still shaky hands  ( _ hands of a murder _ ) .

“M-Mark Jefferson…” his voice cracked as tears chose their own path and leaked down his face, which was forming from pink to red. His veins visible on his forehead to his jaw. Officer Barry raised an eyebrow in question, 

“Yes…?” 

_ Breathe in, breathe out Nathan.  _ Samantha would probably tell him if she were here.

Samantha. 

She had a reason to hate him then, imagine if she saw him now. Thin eyebrows furrowed, forehead creased, pushed pink lips in a thin line as those once warm hazel eyes turned into cold daggers. She’ll point at him and laugh in that soft and slightly stuttering voice harshly. Calling him the murderous freak he knows he is; it hurts but he deserves it. He pushed her away to begin with. He’s a fucktard.

_ Twitch.  _

Oh yes, the football and swim team are there too. The Drama kids. Rachel. Victoria. Wellstheasshatt. Frank and his mutt are too. They are circled around him, coming closer and closer: calling him the motherfucker he is…

Freak show.

Twitch.

Freak show.

Twitch. 

Freak show.

Twitch.

“NATHAN!” A voice yelled. He can’t pick up who it was that said it, or did he give much of a shit to care as black swept into his vison.

A freak show indeed. 


	2. Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was just so tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who left kudos and reviews - I am so happy you guys are enjoying it so far; the next chapter or two will be just showing the effect and aftermath of saving the Bay then we will finally start getting a move on into the story. Again, feedback and criticism is more than welcomed and incredibly helpful for future chapters and stories. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)

She doesn’t know what to do, or rather if she is able to do anything without anyone coming with the assumption that she’s lost her mind completely -- and its driving her to the very edge of crazy town.

Sitting crossed legged on her mattress, she tried to compose herself as she went through Chloe’s old belongings. All of her classes have been cancelled since Monday and wouldn’t be back on until the police have created a statement on Jefferson and Nathan’s trial. The school has been strangely quiet about the whole thing. The Vortex Club has been pretty much dead without their King and their Queen Bee hardly ever left her dorm as far as Max knew sense she’s been doing the exact same thing after all. Maybe she should consider seeing how Victoria is going, if she won’t tear and spit off her head like an angry wolf first.

Max yawned, she hadn’t been getting any sleep since the funeral, and based on how tired and weak she felt on that day neither did the Max that was in her place for the whole week. The nightmares had been consuming her into an oblivion of needles, gunshots, clocks fucking _ticking_ and the sound of a storm happening while she laid in the Dark Room unable to do anything every time she closed her eyes.

Max stopped, shaking her head furiously to get rid of those thoughts. They haunt her at night enough as it is, she doesn’t need them to affect her right now.

 Pushing aside a few small pieces of torn up scribbled notes, keys, half used ink leaking pens Max is putting a mental note to throw out later and a few photos of Bongo to find a worn out black journal at the bottom of the box. Curiosity perking in, Max grabbed the book and pulled it out.

Placing it onto her lap, Max just stared at it, fingers holding still on the edge of the cover hesitating.  The whole reason the storm happened was because she got herself into someone else’s business in the first place - granted anyone probably would have in that situation if they had fucking rewind powers but this was Max. It’s Chloe’s personal business, it has nothing to do with her. She felt a mix of nervousness inside as her other hand grips onto the spine tightly. _Maybe_ Joyce didn’t know it was in the box…

 _Buzz_. Someone left her a message.

Max gently put the book back inside the box and got up from her seating position, walking over to her desk and removed her phone from the charger, the contact reading _Mom_. Typing in her pin number, she opened the chat,

**From Mom: How are you xo**

Max swallowed, her fingers typed back a reply,

**From Max: yeah I’m okay just really tired, how are you and dad? x**

**From Mom: Worried about you are you sure you don’t want to come home**

**From Max: I’m positive mom.**

**From Mom: You know you can come home whenever you like, baby girl. You don’t always have to act like everything is okay.**

 Max picked at her tee-shirt, trying to think of the right words to type back. Her fingers slowly going away at the mini keyboard,

**From Max: I know. It’s just so hard to accept I was planning on contacting her at some point only for that to happen right then and there**

Oh, don’t forget the part about rewinding, hitting the fire alarm that saved Chloe, getting to know her all over again for a week only to rewind and have her stripped away and her fate sealed by a sick and manipulated boy and his sicker _mentor_. All because she wanted to get out of this town with a girl who meant the world to her.

Max’s phone made a noise and vibrated in her hand,

**From Mom: You’re in so much pain right now I can’t imagine you girls were best friends, but it will get better soon Maxine, you just need to give yourself time to heal and say goodbye. I just really want to be able to hold you right now and so does your father**

What Max would give for that hug right now…

**From Max: I know mom. I’ll come home soon I promise just not now.**

**From Mom: We love you so much, you are such a beautiful and strong girl. If you ever need to talk to someone about anything baby just call us. Please be safe**

**From Max: I will mom. I love you both too.**

**From Mom: We will call you tomorrow okay goodnight sweetheart XOX**

**From Max: Night xx**

 She sighed, putting her phone back onto the charger. She headed back to the bed grabbed the box, placed it next to her couch and switched off the light. Laying down on the bed and pulled the quilt over herself. Hoping she will get at least a few hours of sleep.

 

A solid five minutes past,

 

20 minutes,

 

45 minutes,

 

60 minutes. More like five hours.

Max grunted.

 

_Okay nope, not happening at all._

Her eyes were heavy when she tried opening them, the full moon reflecting a dim light into her room directly from her window. Sitting up and dangling her legs at the edge of the bed, she sent a glimpse to her alarm. 10:34. Max put her face in her hands, trying to relax herself from the shaking that will lead to a breakdown.

That’s it.

Reaching for her cell phone, she scrolled down in her contacts until she found the number she was looking for. She waited until the third dial when she heard his hoarse and think voice,

“Hello?”

“Hey Warren, are you still in your dorm?”

“Uh, yeah I am– sorry, you got me in my zombie state: only just managed to get, um,” there was shuffling on the other line for a brief moment, “an hour of sleep.”

“Oh.” She said bluntly. _Wow Max, that sounded like a great reply._ Before she was about to ask him a terrible favor to ask someone in that state. Warren cut her off with a chuckle.

“It’s all good.” she can imagine him shrugging his slender shoulders, “are – are you okay? I haven’t heard from you since – Friday.”

“Yeah I am.” Max’s mouth blurred out before she could think, “actually I’m not really. Can we meet? I just need to get out of here…”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Meet you in the parking lot?”

“See you there.” she hung up and put the phone in the pocket of her pants, grabbed her hoodie and a pair of flip-flops and exited the room. The hallway was almost pitch black and quite. Max switched on the flashlight on her phone, her flip-flops making a rubber-squeak noise as she walked down the stairs and out of the building. The Tobanga grasped her attention from the corner of her eye. It looked the exact same in this timeline, mysterious, threating and as if it knew all her secrets and was ready to expose her at any given moment. She tore her eyes away from it, frowning when she remembered what Nightmare Samuel had said,

_“Too bad you didn’t become friends with the Tobanga.”_

Ugh, she let it happen again. Max ignored it and continued walking down the path, she felt a chill up her spine as a cold, strong breeze gushed out of nowhere, wrapping her arms around herself; she felt stupid for not at least changing out of her pajamas shorts but unless she wants to make poor Warren wait in the freezing cold she would need to try to suck it up.

 For the next few minutes Max walked in complete utter silence in the dark, empty school grounds.

The walk felt shorter than last time. Max wasn’t sure how to describe it; one second she was in her dorm then the next she was opening into Warren’s front passenger seat. She sat and shut the door lightly, giving a weak smile to her friend. Purple bruising under his hazel eyes, hair unkempt and messy. He was still wearing this clothes from earlier that day, a grey sleeved shirt with a zigzag stitch-print in the center with a plain navy blue hoodie over top and half zipped, dark blue jeans and worn out sneakers with the laces undone. She doubts she looked any better.

“So… Where do you want to head…?” Warren looked at her.  

Max shrugged, putting on her seat belt and then gazing straight ahead, “I don’t mind Warren.”

Warren gave a half sympatric smile in her direction, turning his attention away from the brunette and turned the keys and began to pull out of the parking lot and onto the main highway. There was only a couple of vehicles on the road that night.  Fifteen minutes of uncommunicativeness but being in each other’s present felt relaxing. They made it to the beach. Switching the car off he bit his lip, awkwardly watching his fingers fiddle with his nails before interpreting the silence in an uncertain and quite voice, “did you hear what happened to Nathan Prescott?”

Max’s interest perked, she couldn’t help it. She turned to look at Warren with a facial expression that told him to go on.

“They sent him to the hospital a few hours after arresting him. Apparently he had a huge mental breakdown, passed out and everything.”

“How you heard about this?”

“Everyone’s been talking about it since yesterday. Some nurse saw him cuffed to the bed, recognized who he was and gossiped about it to her pals I think.”

She scoffed, “of course it was heard through gossip.”

“What else do you expect about this town? Especially since he’s a Prescott. I heard his mom and dad only visited him once.”

She casted him a quizzical look as he shifted in the driver seat to fully face her, “why are you telling me this?”

“Thought it was something you wanted to know I guess. You haven’t been out very much” Warren shrugged then hesitated, “Are… Are you going to the trial?”

Max must have been completely out of character judging by the nervous look he was giving her; as if she was a china doll he was unsure to touch in fear of dropping her into billions of shattered pieces he couldn’t pick up and fix without hurting himself. Usually he didn’t need to think twice about what he was going to say to her.

“Um, I don’t know… They want me to come down to the station tomorrow for another statement. I think they want me to testify on Nathan’s and Chloe’s case.”

“Damn. That’s gotta suck.”

She didn’t reply. With a heavy sigh of frustration, she hunched herself in her seat, staring longingly out the window screen and into the dark ocean. Waiting for something, _anything_ to happen. They stayed there for a while, nothing being said between them. After what felt like forever already that could have just been half an hour she turned to Warren and silently asked him to take her back to the dorms. Sending her one of his warm smiles he put the keys back in place, headlights and engine on, he started to reverse out Max swore she saw something big dive back into the ocean from the corner of her eye, but she was so tired that she couldn’t be sure.


End file.
